The power of platforms

WHEN Marc Merrill and his partner designed the online game League of Legends and founded a company, Riot Games, in 2009 to bring it to market, they didn’t only have in mind to create a new product for the gaming world. Their strategy was to build a platform. Already, that platform has become a very valuable one. Start with the game itself: 67 million people play it each month,1 generating some $1 billion dollars in annual revenue for the company.2 These gamers, who may be sitting alone in their dorm rooms but who, online, join up as teams to do battle, all play for free; Riot Games makes its money when, having drawn everyone into its designed environment, it finds other ways to capitalize on their presence. More recently, the company extended its platform to the offline world, creating live events in which League of Legend teams compete in tournaments in front of live spectators. It doing so, it launched what is now the fastest-growing part of the sports industry: e-sports.

Contact

Director New Business for Romania and EMEA

Maarten Oonk, Director New Business for Romania and EMEA at Deloitte Center for the Edge, is an expert on transformation, disruption and exponential technologies. At Deloitte’s Center for the Edge, he... More

In Romania, the services are provided or supported by Deloitte Audit SRL, Deloitte Tax SRL, Deloitte Consultanta SRL, Deloitte Fiscal Representative SRL, Deloitte Tehnologie SRL, Deloitte GES Support Services SRL and Deloitte Shared Services SRL. Deloitte is one of the leading professional services organizations in Romania providing, in cooperation with Reff & Associates, services in audit, tax, legal, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, business processes and technology services and other related services with more than 1100 professionals. Please see www.deloitte.com/ro/about to learn more about our global network of member firms.